Such artificial stimulation of the blood circulation is particularly indicated for a person suffering from a cardiovascular emergency such as cardiac arrest.
Apparatus for providing automatic or assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation are known in the prior art.
An known apparatus is the LUCAS™ CPR provided by the company Physio-Control Inc./Jolife AB. The apparatus has three stiff pivotally arranged parts which can not easily be adapted.
to the body of the patient. As a further disadvantage, the patient has to be slightly lifted up for passing such arrangement around the patient's chest which is a problem for obese patients.
A further known apparatus is the AutoPulse® provided by Zoll Medical with a load-distributing band which is clamped above the patient and which applies compressions to the chest of a patient. The AutoPulse® requires a solid plate installed on the dorsal side of the patient, i.e. consequently underneath the patient. For the arrangement of the solid plate, the patient needs to be lifted up slightly.
WO 2010/098892 A2 discloses another apparatus for providing compressions to the chest of a patient to stimulate blood circulation. It comprises a flat, wide, substantially stiff belt to be passed around a patient's chest and to maintain the chest compression unit in position on the patient.
Such apparatus still has the disadvantage that stiffness of the band may cause additional pain to the patient. Furthermore, a stiff band may complicate the handling for the application of the CPR apparatus around the patient's chest.